Portside Date: August 9, 2016

Author: Conor Shine

Date of source: August 8, 2016

The Dallas Morning News

A week after calling for the removal of CEO Gary Kelly, Southwest Airlines’ unions kept up the pressure on Monday with a flight attendant-led picket outside of Dallas Love Field and nine other airports around the country.

The picket is the latest attempt to put pressure on Southwest’s management by its largest unions, several of which have been negotiating for a new contract with the Dallas-based carrier for nearly four years.

It comes a week after leaders of Southwest’s pilots, mechanics, flight attendants and ramp workers unions called for the replacement of the company’s CEO Kelly and chief operating officer Mike Van de Ven following a system wide technical outage in July that disrupted thousands of flights, stranding crews and customers around the country.  

“The recent technical outage was kind of the last straw for us,” said Audrey Stone, president of Transport Workers Union Local 556, which organized the picket and represents about 14,500 flight attendants.

Stone called the outage a “debacle” and said there were cases of flight attendants around the country being stranded overnight at airports because hotel rooms weren’t arranged.

“It’s completely unacceptable,” Stone said. “These are people that love our company and they felt like they were let down.”

Labor tension at Southwest has been building over the last several years with the technical outage providing a clear example of what Stone and other union leaders have criticized as management’s failure to adequately invest in the company’s operations.

The unions have criticized Southwest for putting the needs of shareholders ahead of its employees during a time of record profitability.

Southwest executives have rebuffed much of the union criticism and insist they’re eager to strike a deal that rewards employees for their role in the company’s success. Last week, Kelly described calls for his ouster as a union ploy to pressure the company, and he was backed up by Southwest’s board of directors, who issued a letter Friday supporting current management.

While financial issues are a key part of the ongoing negotiations between pilots, mechanics, flight attendants and Southwest, just as important are rules that shape working conditions.

For flight attendants, these quality of life issues include scheduling, length of work days and vacation.

Southwest has sought to modify some of these work rules to provide flexibility as the airline continues to expand, including a recent foray into international destinations, while also controlling its costs for a time when low-fuel prices aren’t providing the same boost to profits they are now.

Monday’s picket was the third by Southwest unions at Love Field this year, following a picket organized by pilots in February and another by mechanics in July.

Dozens of flight attendants were joined at Love Field by pilots, mechanics and ramp workers Monday morning. Other pickets were held at airports where Southwest has crew bases, including Houston’s Hobby Airport, Chicago’s Midway Airport, and airports in Denver, Atlanta, Baltimore, Las Vegas, Oakland and Orlando.